Exactly what title says, why is there no way to recoup zelle definitely or wire transfer(maybe?) but if banks send money to wrong person there are severe penalties for not returning.
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It’s a constant battle between convenience and security.
In order for things to be convenient and fast, they generally have to take a hit to security and vice versa.
These impersonal and quick payment apps function under the assumption that you know the person who you are sending money to, so you are doing the verification process yourself. In theory it’s the same as giving 20 dollars of physical cash to a person. You gave it to them personally because you know them and owed them 20, they will pay you back, or they will provide a service for those 20. If they don’t, well, you chose the wrong person to trust and so the loss is on yourself.
If more complicated security functions were in place, such as stronger verification methods then these apps would be too annoying to use for such kinds of small transactions.
The other end of this spectrum would be like an ACH transfer. I don’t know too much behind the security details but that is a much more official type of transaction and so any parties involved are likely to be more verified and traceable.
Having said that, banks DO try to put as many security features in place. I stupidly used Zelle to send a small amount of money to a scammer because I was new to the system, I was jet lagged, and I was dealing with the death of a family member and a load full of official responsibilities. So, thinking I was actually paying an owed back bill, I sent it to someone. The transaction was never approved, and immediately after I realized it was a scam, I called and confirmed with the bank to not allow it through. So I guess they use some algorithm or a blacklist to prevent such types of transactions but that’s always a cat and mouse game and you can’t rely on that 100%.
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